Flying Crown Subdivision v. Alaska Railroad Corporation
Planes, trains, and property rights: battling government’s easement abuses
Represented at no charge by PLF, the subdivision's homeowners appealed the lower court's decision at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to stop the Alaska Railroad from enshrining easement holders' exclusionary powers at the expense of private property rights. ...
Ralston, et al. v. County of San Mateo, CA, et al.
Government’s regulatory purgatory demotes property rights to second-class status
Courts cannot require Randy to ask the county to allow a land use it will not approve, via a process that does not exist, simply to make his takings case "ready" for the court's review. ...
Stephanie Heigel-Tibbitts v. California Coastal Commission
Couple fights unlawful Coastal Commission limbo to build wheelchair-friendly home
PLF has challenged CCC actions for decades and has several lawsuits in progress, and with PLF's help, the Tibbittses fought back. Here, PLF filed a lawsuit and asked the state court simply to force the CCC to hold a hearing to make a decision on the permit. Just prompting a hearing will set a precedent for coastal property owners to defend their du ...
Sheffield v. George P. Bush, GLO Commissioner
Texas moves the public beach onto private, residential properties
Charles Sheffield is a long-time Texan and surfer who bought beachfront homes in Surfside Beach as a retirement investment. Merry Porter is a native Texan and resident of Surfside Beach who owns and uses a small beachfront home for rental income. In March 2021, without prior notice or compensation, the Texas General Land Office moved the public bea ...
Foster v. U.S. Department of Agriculture
Farming family fights government’s unconstitutional restrictions on their livelihood
Arlen and Cindy Foster are third-generation farmers in Miner County, South Dakota. They have a long history of responsible land conservation, including the tree line Arlen's father planted to prevent erosion. In the winter, deep snow drifts pile in the tree belt and come spring, the melting snow collects in a farm field. A federal agency ruled that ...
Skipper v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Illegal critical habitat designation punishes family’s voluntary conservation efforts
The Skipper family has owned forestland in Clarke County, Alabama, since 1902, which it manages for timber production and conservation. In 1956 they established the Scotch Wildlife Management Area (WMA), agreeing to voluntarily open their land for the state's wildlife conservation efforts and outdoor recreation. In February 2020, the U.S. Fish and ...
Pietro Family Investments v. California Coastal Commission
Builder battles the California Coastal Commission’s basement ban
When Chris Adamski, a Monterey County, California contractor, and his longtime mentor and friend Mike Pietro bought four properties in the county's Carmel Point neighborhood in 2014, they planned to develop two houses to sell, and then build one house for each of them—Chris for his large family, and Mike for retirement. The California Coastal Com ...
United States v. LaPant
Bureaucrats can’t rewrite the law just because they don’t like it
Jack LaPant thought that he had properly navigated all the necessary regulations under the federal Clean Water Act when he plowed his northern California farmland in 2011 to grow wheat. Multiple agencies said he did not need a permit; but in 2016, government bureaucrats sued Jack for not obtaining a permit, even though the Clean Water Act doesn't r ...
Northern New Mexico Stockman’s Association v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Ranchers fight illegal critical habitat designation
In 2016, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated as critical habitat some 14,000 acres of land and 170 miles of streams in Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico for the jumping mouse. The designation severely limits ranchers' access to grazing land and watering spots and, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service, adds $20 million in regulatory ...